Jurors to hear opening statements in 2005 slaying

Opening statements are scheduled today in the 2005 slaying of a Garden City man in what prosecutors say was punishment for being a snitch.

Kareem K. Young, 20, is charged with murder and related counts in the July 20, 2005, slaying of his cousin, Arkeem Lavan Young.

A jury of seven men and five women was selected Monday to hear the case before Chatham County Superior Court Judge Michael Karpf.

The trial is expected to last through Friday, Karpf said.

Earlier trials have been postponed because of an unavailable witness and an appeal to the Georgia Supreme Court over one of Karpf's pre-trial rulings.

Assistant District Attorney Ann Elmore contends the victim, 18, was shot dead with a 9 mm pistol during a quarrel in front of his house with the defendant.

She will argue Young considered the victim a snitch and killed him to silence him in another slaying that prosecutors contend Young committed seven months earlier.

''The punishment for being a snitch on the street is death,"Elmore argued Monday afternoon.

In that one, prosecutors believe Young shot and killed Antonio Spurgeon on Dec. 22, 2004, during an attempted armed robbery outside the Time Saver convenience store near Yamacraw Village.

Kareem Young was charged in the case, but the grand jury refused to indict him in 2005 after statements he made to police were tossed out.

The prosecution contends Young also threatened another cousin, Daniel Young, whom he also considered a snitch.

Public Defender Michael Edwards contends the state's theory for a motive falls apart based on the evidence they are presenting.

There is no evidence that Daniel Young had any evidence about the Time Saver slayer, he argued.

The indictment, returned by the grand jury Oct. 12, 2005, charges Young with malice and felony murder.

The charge contends he killed Arkeem Young while committing aggravated assault, another felony, and during the commission of theft by receiving a stolen firearm.

The weapon was stolen from Catherine Huffman, the indictment charges.

Young also is charged in the indictment with carrying a gun without a permit, tampering with evidence by concealing the pistol, making false statements and concealing facts - that Arkeem was shot by someone passing by in a truck, a matter within the jurisdiction of the Garden City Police Department.